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How to Choose the Right Domain Name for a Successful Web Site

Your great Web site will need a great domain name. Your domain name, or "Web address," is one of the biggest factors affecting how many visitors your Web site will attract. So how do you go about getting the right domain name? This article will show you how.

Published 6/16/2008

Choosing a domain name may seem like an exercise in frustration, and you may be tempted to register the first one you stumble upon that isn't already taken. Slow down! It requires more thought than that, and your choice will have a tremendous impact on the ultimate success of you Web site. In this article, we will discuss how to discover a domain name that will work for you.

There are four main concerns when choosing a domain name:

1. Technical Requirements.
2. A Memorable Name.
3. A Descriptive Name.
4. Keyword Research.

Technical Requirements for Domain Names

Let's get the easy part out of the way first.

When we talk about a "domain name," we're referring to the part of a Web site address that comes to the left of the rightmost "dot." For instance, in "www.YourWebSite.com," the domain name - the part you need to choose and register - is the "YourWebSite" part. You must register the domain within a particular "top-level domain," the part that comes after the rightmost "dot," as in ".com," ".info," ".us," etc. That is, "www.YourWebSite.com" is a different domain than "www.YourWebSite.info." If you want the same name in more than one "top-level domain," you must register each variation separately. And it is possible that someone else has already registered one, but not the other, so you might be able to register "www.YourWebSite.biz," even though "www.YourWebSite.com" belongs to somebody else.

Other information that may occur before the domain name (where the "www" normally is found) is defined as a "subdomain," and does not have to be registered separately. Your hosting service may have rules about how many subdomains you may create, and how exactly they are linked to your main domain. Those rules vary among hosting providers and are beyond the scope of this article. All we're concerned with here is the main domain name.

The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers ("ICANN") defines what a domain name must look like. These rules may be summarized as follows:

• 63 or fewer characters.
• Only numerals, hyphens, and English letters.
• Must not begin with a hyphen.
• Must not end with a hyphen.

Unfortunately, it's not quite that cut and dried. There are varying interpretations of the rules. Some say that a domain in a four-character top-level domain (.info, .mobi) can only be 62 characters long. There are several schemes regarding how to encode non-English letters, etc.

We can avoid getting bogged down in these points of confusion by remembering two things:

1. You don't want a long domain name anyway, so don't worry about whether the limit is 64 or 62 characters.
2. Non-English letters, encoded in schemes that might not be universally applied, mean that your domain name may look different (and nonsensical) on various parts of the Internet, so don't use them.

Choosing a Memorable Domain Name

Your domain name must be something that people can remember and that they can type in readily, or recognize at a glance when they see it as a clickable link.

Among other things, this means that your domain name should be short. Now, all of the genuinely short domain names are already taken. Virtually every single word in the English language has already been registered as a domain name, as has every combination of up to five English letters. So, don't get too hung up on "short." As we will discuss later in this article, you want to find the right balance between "short" and "descriptive."

Another factor in choosing a memorable domain name is to avoid unnecessary characters. Although a domain name may include hyphens, you are better off without them. If you wanted to register "YourDomainName.com" and found it was unavailable, you will not be doing yourself any favors by registering "Your-Domain-Name.com." Users will confuse the two Web sites, and will be more likely to go with the shorter version of the name. Besides, many well-known Web businesses with highly recognizable domain names will vigorously pursue their trademarks and can take away your domain name if it is too similar to theirs. There are complex legal arguments behind some of these disputes, but I, for one, would not want to have to pay the legal team to defend my use of, for example, "G-o-o-g-l-e.com." Better to avoid conflict simply by being original.

Choosing a Descriptive Domain Name

Your domain name should describe what the user will find on your Web site.

Unless you have a highly recognizable name that generates interest all by itself, you should not put your personal name in your domain name. Your personal name just makes your domain name longer without making it "grabbier." If your Web site is about baby care tips, for instance, nobody cares if it's "SallySmithsBabyCareTips.com." On the other hand, if you are Britney Spears, ... Well, your name has undeniable "grab" power.

Look for a descriptive phrase about your chosen specialty. Is your Web site going to be about baby care tips for working mothers? For parents of babies with special needs? Whatever specific area you intend to address, put together three or four words that say it. But you don't have to say it very well, at this point. As we will discuss shortly, there are tools to help you refine your descriptive phrases. For now, just come up with a very few phrases that describe your Web site's content in three or four words.

Of course, there are some highly successful Web sites that have names that are not at all descriptive. A few spectacular examples include Google, Yahoo, eBay, etc. Yes, you can come up with a nonsensical word and turn it into a recognizable domain name, but it's a long, tough path to follow. You will have to have an utterly compelling Web site, and you will have to have the budget to keep the Web site going through many months, or even years, of brand building.

For most of us, we must find our domain name by looking for something descriptive.

Keyword Research when Choosing a Domain Name

To review what we've discussed so far, you want your domain name to be short and descriptive. That means that each word in it must have value. So, let's talk about how to identify powerful, high-value words to use in your domain name.

You've probably read a bit about keyword research, but maybe not in the context of choosing a domain name. Keyword research can identify powerful keywords for your Web site's content, but it can also identify powerful words to use in your domain name. There is one difference, as will be discussed below.

Keyword research will identify the words and phrases that people are using when searching for information related to your planned Web site. You will want to use these keywords in your Web site's content and in any pay-per-click (PPC) campaigns, but you should also use them in your domain name itself. A keyword-rich domain name is more likely to rank high in search engine results, especially if your site's content is also rich in the same keywords.

When identifying keywords for use in your Web site content or in PPC advertising, you want to identify search terms that are frequently used but rarely matched. These are the high-value keywords that can make the content of your Web site stand out in the search engines.

However, when you are looking for keywords to use in your domain name, you should concentrate on frequently used keywords, and not necessarily those that are rarely matched. This is the difference alluded to earlier.

Keyword research can not tell you whether a domain name is available. It can only tell you what people are looking for and what they are finding in the content of Web pages, not in the domain names. So, identify terms that people are looking for, then determine what domain names are available that use those terms, and you will have a winning domain name.

Take the list of descriptive phrases you identified in the last section, and use each one as the starting point for keyword research. From your keyword research, you will build a list, probably a very long one, of phrases that people are searching for when they want to find the kind of content you plan to offer on your Web site.

From that list, focus on the shortest phrases. Make sure they are still clearly relevant and clearly descriptive of the content you intend to offer. Now, check with your domain registration service to see which of these keyword-rich domain names are available for you to register.

What if you find two or more keyword-rich domain names that match your Web site's planned content and that are available? Register all of them! Choose the one you like best as the main name for your Web site, but keep the others. You can use them as "redirect" pages to send visitors to the main site. And if you find later that your main site is not drawing as much traffic as your alternate names, you have the option of using the alternate names instead. Or you can create a new Web site, complementary to the original one, using one or more of these alternate names. (And your competitors don't have those options!)

For the same reason, register your domain name in various top-level domains if they are available, such as "YourDomainName.com" and "YourDomainName.info." Lock in your options on those alternate names, and lock out your competitors from stealing the results of your research for the ultimate domain name.

Conclusion: What to Do Next

Before you rush out and register the first available domain name you come up with, do your homework.

• Think of a short list of descriptive phrases about the Web site you intend to build.
• Do some comprehensive keyword research on each of those descriptive phrases, and build a list of more keyword-rich descriptive phrases.
• Choose the shortest, most memorable phrases from your list, and check which ones are available to register as domain names.
• Register as many of these keyword-rich, descriptive domain names as you can.